Hi everyone,
I am new to this forum and would like to ask for guidance and especially for ideas and opinions on my project.
We are building amateur rocket that should reach 100 km altitude. And there is future plan to build one that will reach higher altitude (about 200 km)as well as will get into earth orbit. Then we will possibly have a chance to put small satellite in this orbit (about 1 kg in weight).
The rocket part is quite clear for us as it is not the first project, but we have no experience with the satellites.
At this moment I am interested in what radio link which would be able to used for communication with the satellite and also if it would be possible to build it (I can solder parts according to the schematics, but not much more yet,but I am willing to learn more to be able to do more complicated tasks just need to know where to start and where to go)
So please if anybody have any ideas or suggestions I would be more than grateful to hear them.

 

Hello,

Building a satellite will not be easy.
What do you want to do with the satellite?

Take a look at the wiki for what types of salellites there are:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satellite

Bertus

 

The satellite would be just a prove and test of the idea.
Actually during this project we aim to test if we can get a rocket into required altitude and at required speed but because we plan to carry a payload of about 1kg as well I thought we could make small satellite which would be as a proof of concept for our future plans which may have other purpose than just try to get as high as possible.
Also because of very low altitude (200km) and atmospheric drag the satellite is not going to survive in the orbit very long. It should stay there about 1 week and probably orbit the Earth about 100 times before it will fall down to earth.
Ideal scenario would be to make a satellite that will transmit some signal on receiving some command from ground station. The logic is very simple but as it is very far from the earth , fly very fast ( it takes 1.5 hours to orbit the Earth, so it doesn't spend much time above the ground station) and satellite has to withstand harsh space conditions it probably will be quite complicated. But how complicated is it? Or is it at least worth a try?

 

Hello,

Perhaps this project might give you a hint:
http://www.circuitlake.com/mini-flight-telemetry-transmitter.html

Please take care to use frequencies that are allowed to use in your country.

Bertus

 

Hi Bertus,
Thanks for your link. Unfortunately I was not able to access that project details.
I found there are many transmitter diagrams on internet. They mostly differ in wavelength and power. So Is it possible to calculate signal transmission distance based on those two parameters (also which wavelength is better for propagating atmospheric layers?)
Thanks
Tom

 

Hello,

The lower block with links on this page are about the propagation of waves:
http://www.educypedia.be/electronics/rfemw.htm

Bertus

 

Thanks Bertus